“She fled to this place, a long time ago.” There was a flat lack of emotion in Oriana’s voice. “The forest itself frightens her, but she knows it terrifies me, too.” There was a certain grim satisfaction in the word too. “She’d never guess I’d come here with you. Ah, we’re almost there.”
The path ended at a cottage in the middle of a clearing. Its windows were closed, hidden behind shutters. Vines covered the roof, dangling down like writhing snakes over its walls.
“Who lives here?” I asked.
There was something forbidding about this place. I doubted whoever kept the shutters closed would welcome us.
“No one, on a regular basis,” Oriana stared at the green door shut firmly before us “However, the owners of this humble dwelling allow people to stay here if they keep the place clean.”
“I’ve never done any housework before.” The dust on the cottage’s door didn’t look like it would come off easily. “I’m not sure I’ll be any good at it.”
“I wasn’t any good at housework, either, when I first started,” she said with a chuckle. “Indeed, I thought it was beneath me. After a lot of practice, I improved greatly at it. You will, too.”
Not at all excited at this prediction, I followed Oriana to the dusty door.
She raised her hand to knock on it as boldly as if she’d been expected.
I wondered if she was. The door opened quickly. Too quickly.
The shortest man I’d ever seen stood in the doorway. He had a long silver beard and whiskers tucked away in a worn leather belt. His vest and coat were shabby, but the buttons on them were solid gold. His bushy eyebrows bristled with aggression as he glared at us.
“What do you want?” he demanded. Most of his glare was aimed at Oriana.
She smiled sweetly back at him in return.
“You’re looking well, Opal,” Oriana said with her usual court politeness. She gave the man—no, the dwarf a little bow.
“I’m looking older, as are you,” Opal growled. “What are you doing here?” The wrinkles in his forehead increased when he scowled. “Last time you came to this cottage, you brought nothing but misery.”
“I’m hoping to prevent misery by returning.” Oriana gestured toward me. “This maiden is under a curse, very like the one that struck down the princess you loved.”
“Whose fault was that?” Opal demanded, but his expression softened a bit when he glanced at me. “Is she truly threatened by the same curse?”
“Doomed to fall under it on her sixteenth birthday.” Oriana looked down at her own weathered hands. They curled into claws as if anticipating striking someone. “Unless I can protect her from being cursed.” She gazed straight into the dwarf’s eyes. “I need to stay here in order to do that.”
Opal stared at me for a long moment.
I trembled slightly under his measuring gaze.
This wasn’t one of my parents. This wasn’t someone who’d vowed to protect me. I wasn’t even sure if this was one of my subjects. His regard wasn’t unfriendly, but it was more neutral than I was used to.
“All right, the two of you can stay here.” A sigh ran through Opal’s thick frame as he studied the dirt on the floor. “A hundred years is a long time to hold a grudge.” He looked up at Oriana.
There was nothing neutral in his gaze. Not when he looked at her. “I still find it hard to forgive you.” Each word came out in a low growl.
“I understand.” Oriana wouldn’t meet his eyes, although she offered him her hand. “I find it hard to forgive myself, too.”
Opal stared at her hand for a long moment before sticking out his own stubby one to claim hers.
“The deal is the same as it was for her,” he said gruffly as they clasped hands. “You can stay here, help yourself to any food in the larder, and sleep in the spare room as long as you clean the place. All right?”
“All right,” Oriana said.
Our new host gave my guardian a harsh measuring look before he let go of her.
He stood aside, leaving the doorway clear for us.
Oriana entered first.
I followed her, looking around at what would have been a pleasant cottage if not for the dirt and dust everywhere. I could see why the price of room and board was housekeeping. The cottage badly needed it.
“Place has never been the same, not in a hundred years,” Opal mumbled. He wouldn’t look at Oriana. He stared at the shutters, latched from the inside. There was a cuckoo clock on the wall. Like everything else, it was grimy. “Not since we lost her.”
“It was I who taught her to keep house.” Oriana’s voice was so soft, I could barely hear her words. “You won’t find me her inferior, I promise.”
Opal snorted like he didn’t believe it. “I was about to go off to join my brothers at the mines.” He glanced at me, worry flickering in his gray eyes, tugging at his drooping brows. “Will you be all right by yourself?”
“I assure you, I know where everything is.” The bleak conviction in Oriana’s voice made me look at her.
She stared at the closed shutters as if they brought back painful memories.
“That’s right.” Opal didn’t sound convinced. “She let you in and showed you around the cottage, didn’t she? Before you gave her that apple.”
The dwarf and the witch stared at each other, not speaking. The only sound in the cottage was the ticking of the clock and the quickening of my heart.
They were talking about her. She of the dark eyes, the one who’d cursed me. She’d lived here in this cottage. She’d kept house for this strange dwarf a hundred years ago? Before she’d been cursed herself?
If Oriana was the one who’d taught her housekeeping, my guardian was over a hundred years old. She’d visited before the curse had fallen over the former princess, but not before giving her an apple?
“I’m very tired.” Oriana’s gaze dropped to the dusty hem of her robe. “I’m sure my companion is, too. We’re going to rest a bit before we start cleaning the place up if that’s all right with you?” She wouldn’t look at Opal’s face.
“Suit yourself.” He glanced at me and added, “Be sure you don’t get on her bad side.”
Opal marched toward the door and yanked it open. He stomped out, slamming the door behind him.
I turned to Oriana, questions buzzing in my head once more. I wondered if she could read my thoughts or at least guess them.
Oriana flinched like I’d just threatened her. Once again, she seemed elderly and fragile, ready to snap in two if I offered her an unkind glance.
It was deceptive. She was deceptive. Even so, I didn’t want to push her. The pain in her sad blue eyes was real. I was sure of it.
“Please don’t tell me I’m here now because of an apple,” I said, instead. My lips twitched slightly.
She stared at me. Her blue eyes widened, shocked at my attempt to make a joke of all this. Her lips, however, began to twitch as well.
We both started laughing, helpless in the face of our own humor. I wasn’t sure exactly what was so funny, but it had been a long hot day filled with unanswered questions. It was laugh or scream with frustration.
We both preferred the former.
We laughed until our sides hurt. We laughed until tears streamed down our faces. We laughed and laughed until we were too tired to laugh any longer.
“I’m worn out,” Oriana said, wiping the tears from her face. “Come. Let’s rest a little and get our strength back. When we do, I’ll show you how to do housework.”
It was clear I’d have to wait for an opportunity to ask more questions. Or wait for answers to reveal themselves, since she was going to do everything she could to avoid revealing anything.
I followed Oriana to a closed door with a little wooden plaque hanging above it. The words were crudely carved into the sign, “The Fairest of Them All.”
Oriana froze for a moment when she saw those words. Her eyes filled with tears that refused to fall.
She said nothing but opened the door and en
tered a small bedchamber.
I followed her into a place as dusty as everything else. The remnants of a girlishly lacy bedcover covered the single bed.
Oriana headed straight for it and sat down upon its edge.
She wouldn’t look at me. She bent down to unlace her boots, keeping her attention fixed on her feet.
I didn’t say anything either. As I had on this entire journey, I followed her lead.
I sat down beside her, doing my best to figure out how to undo my thick footwear.
She lay down and closed her eyes.
I arranged myself beside her, trying not to gag on the dust that rose into the air when we disturbed it.
Eventually, exhaustion got the better of my inquisitive mind. I closed my eyes.
I’m not sure when I awakened. I stirred at Oriana’s movements. I felt her getting up.
She clapped her hands.
I twitched in response.
“Ready to start cleaning?” She leaned close to me. “I’ll show you how.”
Actually, I wasn’t, but I got up. I was determined to do my best to help her, to meet the expectations of our dwarvish host.
My best turned out to be unimpressive. I destroyed rag after rag, trying to scrub away the dirt and dust clinging to everything. The windows, shelves, and floor space didn’t look much better after I’d wiped them over and over. If anything, I began to feel just as grimy. It was not a pleasant sensation.
“You need to be more vigorous when you scrub.” Oriana waved hands caked with dirt toward a floor space that had improved a little. The grime was reluctant to go. “Put all your strength into it.”
I grimaced. My strength wasn’t much to speak of, but I tried. “How did she do when she cleaned this floor?” I asked, scrubbing as vigorously as I could.
I wasn’t sure if I’d get an answer.
“Very well, but she was used to housework by the time she came here.” Oriana didn’t look up from the patch of floor she was working on. “Her first time was at the castle. She was much frailer than you, so she did far worse.”
“The castle? You mean my castle?” Tired as I was, my eager interest in all things concerning She-of-the-Dark-Eyes was quick to rise. “Did you live with her in the castle?” I remembered what Opal had said. “How long ago was that?”
I’d shown far too much interest.
Oriana got up and picked up our pail of water. “This is filthy. I’ll go fetch some fresh water to clean with.”
I stood, frustrated, as she left with the pail.
She wasn’t going to reveal anything more. At least not until she let her guard down again.
Chapter Four: Outside the Window
I LOST TRACK of how long we stayed at the cottage.
Eventually it got cleaner.
I improved in my scrubbing, along with everything else.
We tidied the cuckoo and the shutters to our best ability. I took to leaving the shutters open, so sunlight could enter the cottage. Any birdsong outside was welcome since Oriana and I were alone for most of each day.
In the evening, Opal and his five younger brothers would return.
Onyx, the eldest of the five, had almost as much gray in his hair and beard as Opal did. The others had a little more red in theirs.
Each dwarf looked tired and sad.
“I thought there were seven of you?” Oriana asked between ladling porridge into bowls of soup. One of our jobs was to cook dinner.
The three youngest dwarves—Sardonyx, Jasper, and Garnet—wouldn’t speak to her. They silently held out their bowls, avoiding her gaze.
“Our oldest brother is dead,” Opal said gruffly. “What happened was too much for Quartz.”
“And whose fault is that?” Garnet burst out, reaching up to grab one of the clumps of matted hair clinging to his chin. They were all that remained of a ginger beard. “Who took our darling and cursed her? Who broke our brother’s heart by turning her into a witch?”
I stared at Oriana in shocked silence.
Oh, but it made a perfect kind of sense. The grief, the guilt, and her reasons for helping me were all to make up for what she’d done.
I didn’t dare ask the dwarves any more about it. Each glowered at Oriana as if he’d like to strangle her with his bare hands.
If she or I said one word, any of them might do it. I could feel their restrained violence in the air, waiting for an excuse to lash against us.
Neither Oriana nor I said anything. We sat down with our bowls.
Everyone ate in silence until I looked at the window.
A pale, sad face watched us through the glass. I recognized her dark eyes at once.
They met my own. A strange sort of terror spread across her entire face, making her red lips quiver.
I could feel that terror tingling through my body.
I didn’t think. I acted. I stood up from the table.
Oriana and the dwarves all stared.
I marched to the front door and opened it.
“Rose, what are you doing?” Oriana stood from her seat but stopped and trembled. “Come back!”
I didn’t.
I went outside into the night. Fortunately, the moon was full and bright, so I had something to see by.
I ran around the house to where the window was.
No one stood there nor was there any trace of the witch princess.
I could see the dwarves and Oriana standing around the table.
The dwarves were all frozen in midstep, posed to hurry toward the door. The sight of me at the window stopped them.
Oriana, whose back was to the window, hadn’t moved.
I turned to face the forest. “I know you’re out there.”
The forest didn’t answer.
“Why don’t you come in and join us?” I peered into the darkness, trying to see any movement, anything.
“What are you doing?” I could hear Oriana’s cry from the other side of the glass.
She spun around to face the window, openmouthed.
The dwarves said nothing.
“Everyone here misses you, including her.” I made my voice as gentle as possible.
I stretched out a hand toward the darkness. Yes, she was out there, concealing herself. I was sure of it. “Why don’t you come in and have supper with us?”
There was no answer. The night was still, hushed, as if my invitation had terrified it as well.
“Please.” My hand trembled slightly, but I didn’t drop it. “I know you see me as your enemy, but I’d like to meet you. I’d like to talk to you. Couldn’t we call a truce just for one meal?”
There was still no answer.
“It’s no good, lass.” Opal finally moved to stand by the window. “She won’t answer. She never answers.” He tried to smile at me, but the wrinkles around his mouth were sad. “You think we haven’t tried calling her, asking her to come in? She’s never once replied.”
“Why?” I stared at the darkness, wishing it would answer. “You loved her. You still do. Doesn’t she know that?”
“It isn’t our love that she wants.” Opal glanced over at Oriana, who stood staring at me silently. “Her heart is too broken to hear anyone.”
“Come inside.” Tears ran down Garnet’s broad face into the remains of his whiskers. “Please, lass. Don’t go courting the darkness. I couldn’t bear to see it claim another maiden.”
Reluctantly, I walked back to the door.
I reentered the cottage.
My action seemed to bring Oriana back to life.
She marched over to me and seized my arm with surprising strength. Before I could say or do anything, she slapped me.
“What is the matter with you?” she cried, giving me a good shake. “How could you go running out into the night? How could you invite her in?”
“Because you won’t,” I retorted, rubbing my cheek with my free hand. Oriana was a lot stronger than she looked. “You’re the one she really wants to talk to, aren’t you?”
; “You’re wrong.” She released my arm. There was a hardness in her eyes I’d never seen before. “She has nothing more to say to me, any more than I have anything to say to her.”
“That’s not true.” I stared at her quivering lips, the furrows in her brow, and her trembling eyelashes. “You want to talk to her, but you’re afraid to.”
“If I am, it’s none of your concern.” Anger smoothed out Oriana’s forehead, as she glared at me. “I don’t know why you want to bring up the past. It won’t save you from anything.”
“It’s not me I want to save.” The words spilled out like a prophecy I couldn’t prevent. “I want to save her.”
Dead silence filled the room.
I could feel six pairs of eyes upon me as each of the dwarves stirred a little.
Something was in their faces that hadn’t been there before. Hope. Just a glimmer, but it made each dwarf a little less gray and sad than he’d been.
“What if she could be saved?” I asked. “You said she was cursed. If the curse changed her, couldn’t she change back?”
“You don’t understand.” Once more, the anger seemed to run out of Oriana. “Her curse was exactly like yours. It made her sleep for a century. Only a kiss of true love could shorten that sleep.”
“A kiss of true love?” I stared at Oriana, along with every dwarf standing around the table. She gazed at the ground. “Did someone kiss her?”
“Yes, but only when it was too late.” Oriana looked up to meet my eyes. Her own were filled with sorrow. “After everything she’d ever loved was gone and her beloved was too gray and weary to satisfy her.”
“You had aged, but she hadn’t.” I stared at her lined face and age-spotted hands.
“We had both changed. The world around us had changed.” Oriana let out a weary sigh. “She couldn’t forgive the world, herself, or me for the changes.”
“Don’t you dare blame her for this.” Garnet moved away from the table, not daring to come too close, but he raised a fist in Oriana’s direction. “She wouldn’t have changed if you hadn’t put the curse on her.”
“I’m not blaming her,” Oriana said with a sigh. “However, if you think she wouldn’t have changed if she hadn’t been cursed, you’re a fool.” She looked up at the table and the dwarves. “I’m very tired. I’m going to bed.” She glanced at me. “Be good enough to clean up the dishes?”
Once Upon a Rainbow, Volume One Page 10